Feb 21 3D Printing: The Trends?

Which 3D printer manufacturers are most popular? That's very hard to say, since internal company statistics are often difficult to find. However, Google is Our Friend in this case, since they offer a free trending service: Google Trends.

Google Trends does not tell you which item is most popular. Instead they simply tell you the relative amount of searching done over time for specified keywords. In other words, what is "top of mind" for people using the web?

The scientists here at Fabbaloo decided to take a look at the latest trends. First, the major 3D printer manufacturers: 3D systems, Stratasys, Objet, Solido and Z Corporation:

We see the leader in searches, by far, seems to be Objet, with Solido receiving around half of their search volume. The other manufacturers are not particularly visible, perhaps due to the specific way people might search for them. It's always good to have a very unique company name! The other observation is the news volume: for these companies, it's increasing over time, meaning more people will know about them.

We performed a second trends analysis using the hobbyist manufacturers and received very different results:

While Fab@Home made a splash in early 2007, it's had very low search volume since. RepRap is much more popular and has been growing during the past year. However, the big trend seems to be MakerBot, who appear in mid-2009 and are growing fast. Of the hobbyist market, they seem to be the current top search term.

Kerry Stevenson, aka "General Fabb" has been writing Fabbaloo posts since he launched the venture in 2007, with an intention to promote and grow the incredible technology of 3D printing across the world. So far, it seems to be working!

Kerry Stevenson, aka "General Fabb" has been writing Fabbaloo posts since he launched the venture in 2007, with an intention to promote and grow the incredible technology of 3D printing across the world. So far, it seems to be working!